Mike Rogers to retire, heading to radio
By: John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman March 27, 2014 11:42 PM EST

Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers is not seeking reelection to Congress, ending a 14-year career in Washington.

Rogers, the 50-year-old chairman of the Intelligence Committee, will join Cumulus, the talk radio company.

“As I close this chapter please know that I am not finished with the effort to bring back American ‘exceptionalism,’” Rogers said in a note to supporters. “Not in the sense of a great notion, but in the sense of impacting the hopes and dreams of a great nation and her people. You may have lost my vote in Congress but not my voice. I look forward to building on our successes and confronting America’s challenges together.”

The youngest of five sons, Rogers graduated from Adrian College in 1985. He then became a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army via the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at the University of Michigan.

Rogers joined the FBI in 1989 as a special agent in the Chicago office, focusing on public corruption and organized crime, among other issues. In 1995, he was elected to the Michigan Senate, rising to majority floor leader in 1999.

In 2000, Rogers was elected to Congress. His southeastern Michigan district voted for Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race following redistricting, but Barack Obama carried it in 2008.

Rogers has been a frequent Obama critic during many appearances on Sunday morning talk shows, although he was briefly floated as a potential CIA director nominee following Obama’s 2012 reelection victory.

He has been a harsh critic of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, suggesting — without offering additional proof — that Snowden was working with foreign intelligence agencies.

Rogers formed a good relationship with Maryland Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger , the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, who has been a staunch defender of the controversial NSA surveillance programs disclosed by Snowden.

But Rogers and Ruppersberger have also offered legislation ending NSA bulk collection program for phone calls and other agency reforms.

Rogers’s 8th District seat had been considered a lock to remain in the Republican column in 2014. But with his retirement, it will become more competitive. Mitt Romney carried the district by 3 percentage points in 2012.

Potential Republican candidates include Mike Bishop, a former state Senate majority leader, and former state Rep. Craig DeRoche. Possible Democratic hopefuls include Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum.